New programme officers for GBIF Secretariat

GBIF Secretariat is pleased to announce the appointment of two new programme officers for content mobilization, analysis and use.

GBIF Secretariat is pleased to announce the appointment of two new programme officers for content mobilization, analysis and use.

The new Programme Officer for Content Analysis and Use will be Dr. Dmitry Schigel (pictured left). Dmitry is from Russia, and currently works in Finland. He is adjunct professor (docent) in mycology at the University of Helsinki.  He is taxonomy coordinator for the ICT team at the Finnish Museum of Natural History, host of the GBIF national node for Finland; and runs a research project on wood-decaying fungi for the Metapopulation Research Group at the university. Dmitry joins the Secretariat in mid-October.

The new Programme Officer for Content Mobilization will be Dr. Siro Masinde (pictured right), currently senior research scientist and formerly head of the botany department at the National Museums of Kenya, including the East African Herbarium and Nairobi Botanic Garden. Siro has extensive experience in digitization and databasing, including as African regional coordinator for JSTOR/ITHAKA, for which he helped develop the Global Plants Initiative. Siro will join the Secretariat at the beginning of September.

Other recent staff appointments at the Secretariat include Kyle Copas, GBIF Science Writer, who was previously director of marketing and communications at NatureServe; and Maheva Laursen, maternity replacement for Sampreethi Aipanjiguly as Communications Officer.